Switching Teams
by peroxidepest17
Summary: Companion piece to “How in the Hell Did I Lose to You?”- Shuuhei has something important to ask Yumichika.


**Title:** Switching Teams  
**Author:** Celeste  
**Rating:** PG-13 (there be some shounen-ai here...)  
**Feedback:** (yes!) HisagixAyasekawa (Yaaay Crack!)  
**Spoilers:** Post Soul-Society Arc, don't read unless you've at least read up to 173-ish?  
**Summary:** Companion piece to "How in the Hell Did I Lose to You?"- Shuuhei has something important to ask Yumichika.  
**Word Count:** 2,236 (o.o I have no idea how that happened…)  
**Time: **40 mins, minor, _minor_ edits.  
**A/N:** This pairing is like some sort of barnacle or something. It kind of latched on to me and is clinging for dear life and will not leave me alone when I should be writing more IchixRuki and One Piece. Alas, it's more Bleach Crack to eat my brain and distract me from the things I am actually obligated to write. ;; Oh well, at least it's entertaining to write. ;; Apologies for the rampant speculation of what's going to happen after the Soul Society Arc finishes. ;;  
**Dedication:** JaB, because I still can't believe she didn't read the same innuendo into the "He sucked out all of my energy!" line of Shuuhei's… XD Shame on you, Jab! Do you see it _now?_ XD  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, alas. I wouldn't mind borrowing Hisagi any time though. XD  
**Distribution:** Just lemme know.

* * *

When Ayasekawa wasn't talking, Hisagi Shuuhei could rationalize himself into considering the 11th division's 5th chair as a fellow warrior and a respectable shinigami.

He was imperfect of course, they all were, but Ayasekawa wore his imperfections where everyone could see them, which deserved some sort of respect. He did not pretend to be a man without vices, his own petty desires and selfish needs.

Tousen had seemed bereft of all things of that manner to Shuuhei when he had become his vice-captain. Kaname had been just, kind, disciplined, and honorable. There had been nothing about Shuuhei's captain that he had seen as imperfect.

Or at least, Tousen had made himself seem that way.

Looking back on it all now, Shuuhei suspected that it was Kaname's internalization of everything base that in the end, had corrupted him. In that respect, he was the exact opposite of Ayasekawa, concealing his imperfections under an illusion of moral flawlessness such that those who served him saw only the good while he plotted behind their backs.

In that respect, Ayasekawa Yumichika was Tousen Kaname's perfect contradiction.

All of Ayasekawa's flaws were pinned on the outside, like a giant, rainbow-colored, flashing billboard. His vanity, pettiness, impatience, and bad manners were there for everyone to see. He made no efforts to hide them, to place them behind some sort of veneer. Instead he let them be known, and did his work as a shinigami _despite_ them.

Shuuhei found himself respecting that more and more.

"Hisagi-san, how's that?" the Ayasekawa breathed, indicating the separation-dimension sphere he'd created with his kidoh, which allowed him to keep about three feet of space in front of him frozen in it's own space-time bubble.

Shuuhei studied its solidness, the strength and craftsmanship Ayasekawa had put into forming the spell.

He nodded. "It's good."

Yumichika beamed. "It's difficult, but I definitely got it!" he announced, not bothering to hide his pride as he let the spell slowly dissolve. The plants he'd frozen reintegrated to the open space around them, once again swaying to the breeze in time with their brethren.

Shuuhei managed not to roll his eyes.

To reiterate, it was only when Ayasekawa wasn't speaking that he could pass as a respectable shinigami.

"But you'll need to be able to hold it for more than two minutes," Shuuhei told him honestly, noting the slight sheen of perspiration delicately dotting Ayasekawa's forehead.

The other death god sighed and huffed, dabbing at the sweat daintily with a handkerchief he pulled from his sleeve. "Well it was my first time!" he whined petulantly. "You should praise me more for doing such a good job." He poked Shuuhei in the arm. "You always focus on the bad things!"

Shuuhei frowned. "You always take things badly in the first place, idiot. I was just telling the truth!"

Yumichika pouted and sat down right beside the 9th division vice-captain, drawing his knees up against his chest to rest his chin on. "Well, I don't get to practice kidoh as much as you do. It's only when I'm with you. At least take that into consideration."

Shuuhei fought back the impulse to scoot away so their shoulders wouldn't touch like they were, knowing that if he did, princess-Yumichika would throw another one of his infamous hissy fits at Hisagi for being such an insensitive jerk over something so stupid.

One of those was more than enough for a lifetime.

Two was downright phobia-inducing.

"You should just tell that monster Zaraki that kidoh is _useful_ in our line of work. Then maybe he would let you use it and you could practice more than once a week." He purposefully omitted the, "with me" floating at the edges of his consciousness.

Ayasekawa shook his head vehemently. "Nooo, taichou is taichou. If he doesn't think kidoh is worthy then I won't use it in front of him. That's how our division works."

Shuuhei snorted. "Well that makes it useless to practice kidoh in the first place then, doesn't it?"

Yumichika looked up suddenly. "You don't like this?"

_Damn._ The flamboyant idiot sure knew how to turn on the big, puppy dog eyes at the drop of a hat.

"That's not what I was talking about, stupid. I just think that if you're going to go through all the trouble of practicing as hard as you do, you should at least get the chance to use what you learn without being afraid of Zaraki."

"I do use it," Yumichika assured him, smiling softly. "I just don't think taichou, or anyone else needs to know, is all."

Shuuhei frowned. "Just put in for a transfer then. All the _other_ teams are normal enough to respect officers who can use kidoh well."

Yumichika looked rather horrified at the suggestion of leaving his group. "I couldn't leave Zaraki-taichou and everyone else!"

For some reason, that vehement assertion annoyed Hisagi more than all of the other man's illogical reasons behind keeping his demon arts abilities a secret. "Che, what's so great about Zaraki anyway? He doesn't even know his own zanpakutou well enough to perform bankai."

Yumichika looked rather indignant on Kenpachi's behalf. "Don't talk about taichou like that! He's very strong," the 5th chair exclaimed, glaring at Shuuhei.

"That may be so, but what's so good about a captain who doesn't even know the true strength of his subordinates?"

"You just don't understand," Yumichika complained, hugging his knees and looking sadly thoughtful.

Shuuhei's head hurt. He _definitely_ didn't understand the other shinigami. At all.

And when he was around Ayasekawa, the vice-captain almost felt like he didn't really know much of _anything._

They sat in silence for a little bit, Shuuhei trying to understand why he was suddenly so annoyed and Yumichika hoping he hadn't irreparably irritated Hisagi into canceling the kidoh practice sessions they'd been having together for a faithful few weeks now.

"I…"

On the sound of his voice, Ayasekawa turned back to his companion. "Hisagi-san?"

"They've decided to promote me to captain of the 9th division," Shuuhei revealed reluctantly, training his eyes straight ahead and definitely away from the excited idiot beside him.

"Really! That's so wonderful, Hisagi-san! Aren't you excited!"

Shuuhei frowned. "It's just the same job with more responsibility," he offered, brow furrowing. "I'll do my duty whether I'm the captain or the lowest seat in the division."

Ayasekawa beamed. "Hisagi-san is so noble," he announced happily. "It's why I like you so much. Nobility is a beautiful trait."

Shuuhei stubbornly fought off his encroaching blush, clearing his throat instead. "Yeah well…" Reaching into the bag he'd brought with him, he withdrew a neatly rolled sheave of forms. "…that means the team is currently receiving applicants to fill the position of vice-captain from both within and outside the division," he told the other man, still purposefully avoiding Yumichika's eyes. He thrust the papers at the other shinigami awkwardly. "I…thought that you might want to try, with all the energy you've been putting into your kidoh training." He swallowed, mouth feeling suddenly dry. "And since you're obviously strong enough." No other reasons than those, of course.

Ayasekawa looked completely mystified as he received the transfer papers.

"Che, but I guess since you can't leave precious Zaraki-taichou, it doesn't even matter, right?"

Shuuhei suddenly found himself on the receiving end of cheering, undignified shinigami hugs. "Of course I'd want to be your vice-captain! Waaaah, I'm so happy!"

Vaguely, the soon-to-be captain realized that he was also being showered in kisses.

Given the circumstances and his own _stupidity_, he supposed that he should have seen it coming.

"Stoppit…argh, will you get off of me, idiot? This isn't that kind of proposition!"

He managed, somehow, to get a hold of both of Ayasekawa's hands and pry them from where they were excitedly wrapped around him.

"Ahahaha…sorry! I'm just so happy you asked me this," Yumichika exclaimed, cheeks red and smile just half a degree shy of luminous joy as he hastily straightened his now-mussed hair.

Shuuhei looked pointedly away. "All I'm telling you is that the position's becoming open. Other people will be applying, and they'll be reviewed equally, you know."

The expression on Ayasekawa's face told Shuuhei that he bought _none_ of it. Not even one word.

Stubborn, the vice-captain pushed on anyway. "So give it a shot. No promises though."

A happy nod. "I will!"

Another stolen kiss, this time against Shuuhei's cheek.

Scowling, Hisagi rubbed at the affected area sullenly. "Would you _stop_ that!"

"Heehee, sorry."

He obviously was _not_.

Shuuhei suddenly wanted to create his own separation-dimension sphere and freeze himself in it, far, far away from Ayasekawa Yumichika.

Instead, in as dignified a manner possible, he simply asked, "So you'd actually be okay with leaving behind precious Zaraki-taichou for this?"

He felt kind of scummy for asking, but for some inexplicable reason, he sort of wanted to know.

Ayasekawa looked torn for a brief moment, before he steeled his features and nodded to himself. Taking a breath, and with rather comedic resolve, he replied, "yes."

"Are you sure?" Shuuhei pressed anyway. "Don't, you know… feel obligated or anything just because I brought it up. No's a no if you don't…"

"I do!" the other death god assured him hastily, looking like he was about to climb back up into Shuuhei's lap with his nodding to prove how emphatic he was about this. "I really do!"

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Shuuhei was obviously being an ass to press Ayasekawa like this, and he still wasn't really sure why.

Yumichika blinked, as if the answer should have been readily apparent. "Because I like you."

Oh. Hisagi had walked right into that one. He'd walked so readily into it that he even had to mock _himself_ a little for it.

_Idiot._

"… that's no reason to switch into a different division, stupid."

Ayasekawa sniffed daintily. "Well, maybe _you_ don't think so."

"But you do?"

"Un. I do."

Shuuhei arched a brow. Simple as that, huh?

"Why?"

"Because I would get to spend more time with you!"

Walked right into that one too. Two in one day and Hisagi not only felt like an ass, but an idiot to boot. "Oh. I see."

Ayasekawa wasn't stung by Shuuhei's less-than euphoric reactions to his exclamations of love anymore, probably because he had somehow convinced himself that the other man was just very, very shy about these things.

Shuuhei was _not_ shy. At least about things he understood.

Ayasekawa was absolutely baffling.

"Well, fine then. Try out. In the end, I get final say of who I appoint. But uh… the competition's going to be tough, so don't slack just because you know me personally."

"I won't!"

"Train hard. It's not going to be easy, you know. There will be lots of 3rd seats from other divisions wanting to move up. Some of them are really strong."

"I promise I'll work hard," Yumichika assured him, smiling that 1000-watt smile such that Shuuhei thought he could actually see physical sparkles manifesting themselves around the other man's body.

A sudden fade.

Shuuhei blinked as that smile disappeared, one minute there, the next gone, replaced with a slightly worried, thoughtful frown.

"Yumichika?"

"Ah…I'll train hard, I promise…but uh, if you um, take me…"

Shuuhei winced at the choice of words. "What?"

Ayasekawa fiddled with the edge of his sash. "Well…there's just…one teensy little thing."

Oh great.

"What is it _now_?"

"Well, if I get the promotion, um… we have to meet with taichou so you can ask his permission to take me…"

Shuuhei sweatdropped. "What the hell? I didn't ask you to _marry_ me or anything! It's just a position transfer."

Ayasekawa looked completely serious. "It's true! Anyone that wants to transfer from the 11th to another division has to ask taichou first!"

"That's not in any of the Soul Society procedure rules that I know!"

Ayasekawa averted his eyes almost shyly. "It's not in the rule book, exactly."

"Then why the hell would I have to do it!"

"…because…taichou wants to make sure the reason is a good one…"

"The reason is a good one! Promotion! Why in the hell would that need a special consultation?"

Ayasekawa frowned. "That's not a good enough reason for changing teams!"

"Well, what other reason is there!"

Ayasekawa looked at him like he was stupid. "There are more beautiful reasons than something as dull as that!" he snapped, looking wounded.

If there was ever a skill Yumichika Ayasekawa posessed that surpassed his ability to annoy Hisagi, it was his ability to make him feel guilty for no apparent reason.

"Okay, okay…sorry, all right? I'm not saying there aren't better reasons. But…I just think it's weird that I'd have to meet with Zaraki privately for something as simple as an officer transfer," Shuuhei amended, albeit sullenly.

Placated, Ayasekawa smiled again, though on a much smaller scale than Hisagi had grown accustomed to. Eyes cast downward; he leaned closer, whispering shyly into Shuuhei's ear. "Well…to tell you the truth, it's really to…"

"SEE IF MY INTENTIONS ARE HONORABLE! What the hell kind of idiotic logic is _that_!"

"Well if you aren't even willing to do something as small as that, then you won't _have _to meet withtaichou because I won't transfer!"

"FINE!"

"FINE! JERK!" Ayasekawa stormed off.

Shuuhei watched him go, scowling. "…"

Three days after the paperwork cleared, Hisagi Shuuhei paid Zaraki Kenpachi a visit.

**END **


End file.
